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Reviews
Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali by Kris Holloway, John Bidwell
jeanetterenee's review
3.0
A very quick read. This is the first Peace Corps memoir I've ever read. I know there are a lot of them floating around out there. This book gives a good idea of what a Peace Corps volunteer might do in a small African village. If you ever take simple things for granted, you need to read a book like this. No toilet paper, or substitutes for it, in this village!!
Kris Holloway spent 1989-1991 in the village of Nampossela, near the border with Burkina Faso. She forged a strong friendship and working relationship with Monique Dembele, the local midwife. Together they attempted to educate the local women about child nutrition and disease prevention, while also working to improve local birthing house conditions. Holloway also met her future husband, another Peace Corps volunteer, while in Nampossela.
The last two chapters of this book were really the best. More beautifully and lyrically written than the rest of the book; perhaps because they came so deeply from the author's heart.
Kris Holloway spent 1989-1991 in the village of Nampossela, near the border with Burkina Faso. She forged a strong friendship and working relationship with Monique Dembele, the local midwife. Together they attempted to educate the local women about child nutrition and disease prevention, while also working to improve local birthing house conditions. Holloway also met her future husband, another Peace Corps volunteer, while in Nampossela.
The last two chapters of this book were really the best. More beautifully and lyrically written than the rest of the book; perhaps because they came so deeply from the author's heart.
nycscribe102's review
4.0
This was a fascinating and incredibly moving read, and that's saying something, given how long it took me to finally finish it. That's in no way a reflection of the quality of the book; it's just that with Mom recuperating from surgery, the time for "purely for pleasure" reading has been the first thing to evaporate from my schedule. Even with large gaps of time in between reading various chapters, Holloway's descriptions of the people she met during her her time as a Peace Corp volunteer in Mali are wonderfully vivid. First and foremost among them is Monique, the midwife of the subtitle. What a truly remarkable person she was. It's humbling to know how much people in other parts of the world must endure and how many basic things that we in the West take for granted. Of course we all know this logically, but to read the accounts of daily life is to be reminded in a visceral way. Read this book and be grateful.
hlh's review
4.0
Really enjoyed this book about a Peace Corps volunteer and a Malian midwife. Non-fiction, well written, and reconfirmed that I could never survive two years in the Peace Corps.
kcourts's review
4.0
Experience of a health PCV in Mali in the late 80's/early 90's. So familiar and nostalgia inducing, despite being set in an entirely different part of the continent. Nothing flashy or terribly exciting, just a great recounting of the African Peace Corps experience.
rlangemann's review
3.0
Fascinating (and sometimes inappropriate) view of the everyday lives of women in Mali.
meli65's review
4.0
Very touching. A nicely done memoir from someone who spent two years in Mali with the Peace Corps. There is a lot about women's health, not so much about midwifery -- so you don't have to be a birth junkie to like this book.
saralynnburnett's review
5.0
Heart wrenching story of a woman who goes to Mali and befriends a mid-wife in a village. I couldn't put it down and it makes me want to get involved in women's rights issues.